This is well over a week late. But what the heck, I do have a few things to say about this episode.

First of all, as returning episode goes, I think this one is better than last season's equivalent "Family Remains" (my tiny gripe ranted here). In fact, with subsequent viewings, I liked it even better.

I'm embarrassed to admit that at first, I missed an important twist where Dr. Erica Cartwright turned out entirely imaginary. Don't get me wrong, I -knew- she said: "I'm not real." And I -did- get that she wasn't there in the hallway when she laid into Dean how everything was his fault because he wasn't good enough. What I -didn't- get however, was she was never there to begin with.

Besides the blunt admission, there was actually another subtler clue earlier -- when Dean and "she" stood there talking under the security mirror, Dr. Fuller walked by. As he sailed pass Dean, the good doctor merely acknowledged "Eddie" (Dean's alias). Now if Dr. Cartwright was really standing next to Dean, there's no way Dr. Fuller would completely ignore his own colleague as if she wasn't even there. This scene was what finally clued me in later.

With this realization, Dr. Cartwright's seemingly standoffish unprofessional demeanor took on a new light. Of course she seemed off as a psychiatrist, she was only a manifestation of Dean's inner self! All of a sudden, I'm not so miffed at her when she disparagingly called Dean a "paranoid schizophrenic with a narcissistic personality disorder and religious psychoses". Instead, my heart ached a little seeing that's how Dean sees himself deep down, readily agreeing with all the negative opinions from outsiders' superficial views.

But that's nothing new. The show has had on numerous occasions called on Dean's self-worth issue. What's interesting to me was the "religious psychoses" comment at the end here. We knew unlike Sam, Dean's faith in God was questionable in the past. But has that changed since Dean and Sam each became Michael and Lucifer's potential meat suit? Here, this diagnosis from the head!Doctor suggests the doubt is still there, despite the fact they are knee deep in the middle of the Apocalypse. In other words, I think Dean doesn't see what's happening around them in the biblical sense. Deep down, he knows Angels are not much better than the Demons, and the fight between them are not as simple as good vs. evil. Since he's scoffing at the whole religious aspect, I can see why Dean has been so unwilling to say yes to Michael, the archangel who supposedly is the ultimate agent of God in banishing the Evil.

Dean's conversations with Dr. Cartwright are of particular interest to me because they are essentially conversations Dean had with himself. From the rapid back-and-forth Q and A in the beginning, the show canonically acknowledged that deep down, Dean was aware he was sleeping too little (3 or 4 hrs every couple of nights) and drinking too much (7 to 8 drinks per day). To me, this is a nice bit of continuity follow through where Dean's post Hell PTSD is alluded to once again.

Dean's other known issues also surfaced during his encounter with the head!Shrink: to start with, it didn't take long at all for "Dr. Cartwright" to bring up Daddy. Then there were the questions of why and how was Dean shouldering the overwhelming responsibility of saving everyone. Dean's turmoil finally came to a head when he was outright blamed (by himself) for Jo and Ellen's death, his failure to end Lucifer with the Colt, and his inability to stop Sam in time from breaking the last seal... These issues Dean had worked hard to bury, and we have only seen glimpses of each now and then. But here, they all came out at once. And what a disaster that had been since that was the time Dean started losing grip with sanity, began to question himself constantly. Fortunately he had Martin there to remind him to stay focused. Nevertheless, we saw Dean's ability was compromised. It was only through Martin's assistance, add in sheer luck and Wraith's own weakness that Dean was able to kill the monster.

I'm not saying it's healthy to shove aside one's emotions. But there's something to be said about keeping a stiff upper lip, and that's precisely how Dean operates. Hence the advice he gave Sam at the end. Some may argue that's a terrible advice, but I think that's exactly the type of things he should say to Sam.

Sam does have a propensity to over think, and I don't mean it as a bad thing -- I have a soft spot for over-thinkers (i.e. my devotion to one Lee Adama). But when there's no timeout allowed on a battlefield, there comes to a point when one just has to suck it all up and march forward.

On the other hand, I'm really proud of Sam for acknowledging his shortcomings here, in this case, his anger issue. I've seen several people commented this seemingly came out of nowhere. But I think it has been hinted from the beginning. Back in Season One's "Asylum", we already got a taste of Sam's deeply seated anger which Dr. Ellicott's ghost effectively exploited. By the time we got to Season Four's "On the Head of a Pin", Sam specifically told Dean he should get angry instead of mourning Pamela's death. By then, it was obvious Sam had used anger to fuel him; and in the previous episode "Abandon All Hopes", Lucifer directly encouraged Sam to keep the fire burning because such emotion ties in with the choice he's destined to make later on. This makes sense because I think anger can be a by-product of pride. And we all know pride is commonly known as the reason for Lucifer's down fall.

Like Dean, when Sam's issue came to surface, he was all but rendered ineffective. In Sam's case, it was even more so since he was tied down completely without any recourse to save himself let alone aid his brother. This seems to suggest that as many issues as Dean has, Sam's was more debilitating, more severe. But unlike Dean, Sam is the one more willing to confront and deal with his issue head on. This gives me great hope that Sam would persevere in the end in his resistance against Lucifer.

Besides these overall impressions, I've also enjoyed this episode in moments. Here are several of my favorites:

Funniest Moment: This goes hands down to Dean's "PUDDING!" scene. That was so unexpected, yet natural, my jaw hit the floor at the same time as my bottom -- Yes, I laughed so hard I actually fell off my couch. By the way, I learned (thanks to my know-it-all friend who watched the episode with me) the scene is a reference to the movie "One Flew Over the Cuckcoo's Nest".

Best Brotherly Moment: I lost count the many times I rewound and watched Sam's "Boop!" on Dean's nose. At here, I should declare that I have a thing for protective!Sam. This scene pushed that button of mine in all the right way. Why? Because one just don't pinch another's nose like that unless s/he finds that person adorable and should be cherished (for what it's worth, I've done the exact same thing to my son many times). Dean's reaction to Sam's out-of-character gesture was sublime too. From the screencaps I made (see below) one can see the headshots of [Jensen's] face were almost identical between when he objected Sam calling him crazy and after Sam pinched his nose. But whereas in one scene his gaze was sharp, in the latter it softened significantly, as if he can sense the truth behind Sam's words: "You are my brother, and I still love you."

Amazing Acting Moment: I really dig the scene of Dean in Martin's room where Dean figured out "Crazy is the clue." Dean here was so unlike his usual cocky and confident self. At one hand I could see his brain is firing at 100 mph, at the same time, I could also see he was really loosing his shit. The actor Jon Gries, who played Martin was fantastic as well.

Eye Candy Moment: Turns out I have a thing for the boys in white v-neck t-shirts and loose fitting hospital pajama bottoms. How strange. \o/

Well, I think I've said enough here. Good thing I don't have much to say about the episode that follows this -- I'd rather pretend that one never happened. ;-)...Here are the screencaps I made:Hint: Click the images for larger pictures. The whole set of 1280 x 720px logo-free Dean-centric screencaps can be downloaded here.

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Comments

Haaa...I was surprised too when found out that Dr Erica only lives in Dean's head. For a while I thought Dean was really crazy. But then, it's supposed to be the effect of the rathe/wraith(?). So, yeah, Dean is crazy, like he said himself, but not that crazy.

Gosh, I'm still searching for a good "Boop" icon. That was so out of character of Sam (and yes, very much like something Jared would do to Jensen). *g* Fortunately they can explain it away as Sam being under influence. Ahhh, just talking about it is making me all tingly. I love it so much, LOL!

Yes, Dean is under Wraith's influence. But the Wraith doesn't make people crazy, just brings forth their issues.

5.12 was "Swap Meat", and I didn't like it very much. Funny they are both written by the same writing team. I've reached the opinion that this writing team should never write anything involve teenagers.

Hee, thank you hun. There's so many little "jewels" scattered through out this episode.

Jensen is so amazingly talented. I feel like he holds nothing back when he's acting -- he lives and breathes the character. You are right, all the scenes you named are wonderful. And looking at the screencaps for the "Pudding" scene, I noticed the one (at the beginning of the act) where his eyes went flat, mouth lax, with thick tongue poking out -- that shot was fleeting if I remember correctly, merely seconds long, yet he really captured the look of a mentally challenged person imo.

I always love your reviews and I've been waiting for this one, and I love it! Your elaboration on why Dean is reluctant to say yes to Michael is so clear and logical. I love to read that it's not a simple good vs bad. Oh, so much can be said or written for that!

And of course this one:This scene pushed that button of mine in all the right way. Why? Because one just don't pinch another's nose like that unless s/he finds that person adorable and should be cherished (for what it's worth, I've done the exact same thing to my son many times).

I think Dean's agnostic at most. He won't believe things unless he sees with his own eyes. He does accept there are things he can't explain, but he doesn't necessarily attribute them to a Supreme God. Also I think Dean is very different from Sam. Sam being a thinker who naturally wants answers to all questions would end up believing the existence of God (since that's the only way to explain the unexplainable). But I don't think Dean has the need to fit an answer to every question.

I just LOVE your reviews of the episodes!!!! I agree with everything you've said. I have to admit to being fooled by the "head" doctor--I thought she was real. She actually reminded me of Meg in the scene where he realizes she's just in his mind. The way she talked to him was very Meg-like.

I didn't know the "pudding" reference (I've never seen the movie), but even so, it makes more sense to me now.

I also agree with what you said in one of your responses above (ie JA acting). One of the things I love about him is how he is always in character. Even if he's not saying anything or is in the background, he is still Dean.